escapist
a person who avoids reality by becoming absorbed in entertainment or fantasy:I, for one, am an escapist, so pondering whether an anime series is "looking out into the world" isn't something I concern myself with.
a person who tries or manages to get out of captivity; an escape artist or escapee:In 1864, the celebrated prison escapist Hamilton tunneled his way to freedom with 60 other captured Union officers.
avoiding reality through entertainment or fantasy, or enabling people to do so:His childhood taste for cowboy adventures and escapist films like Tarzan gave way to an admiration for realist European directors.
Origin of escapist
1Words Nearby escapist
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use escapist in a sentence
All of TheSoul’s brands stick to light and positive content, according to Potrel, which helped provide an escapist outlet during the doom and gloom of 2020.
How TheSoul Publishing grew revenue via platforms with viral social media life hacks | Kayleigh Barber | February 12, 2021 | DigidayLook for more of this kind of escapist programming—from high art to treacle, feeling good will be the new Breaking Bad.
In this context, “Dynamite,” which I had my reservations about, feels like the perfect exclamation point when it closes out Be — a fun, vibrant future fantasy whose lyrical nonsense becomes part of the album’s determinedly escapist milieu.
BTS’s new album is sublime comfort pop for the soul in lockdown | Aja Romano | November 20, 2020 | VoxWhile zoo livestreams have gained popularity as calming, escapist windows of cuteness, there are higher stakes here.
Their group lives in a constant limbo that would challenge any Outside reader’s escapist dreams.
And that makes for a meandering, challenging, non-escapist viewing.
Why Watching ‘Teen Mom 2’s Disturbing Abortion Is So Challenging | Sujay Kumar | January 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThus his love of escapist, desperately lighthearted writers like Laurence Sterne and Miguel de Cervantes.
The Forgotten Russian: The Genius of Nikolai Leskov | Benjamin Lytal | April 10, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTPerabo says it's because female viewers want an escapist fantasy when they're working hard balancing families and careers.
And the theatrical world is picking up on that and again making escapist fare for the summer audience.
Shannon Donnelly on the genre's surprising comeback and why viewers are flocking to escapist fare.
Browse